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I don't see how the brick-and-mortar guys are going to do it. Even if you charged more and offered a high-touch experience, folks will just come in, browse the books, then scan them on their iPhone and buy them on the net.
Ebooks throws an even bigger monkey wrench into the works.
Major changes are coming.
The problem is that bookstores charge too much money. Borders will sell my book for $49 when it comes out, whereas you can preorder it from Amazon for around $22 which is about what it costs to buy the ebook copy right from the publisher. Then my book won't sell because it's too expensive, so we'll have to buy it back from Borders and I'll get charged against my royalties for a "return". It's not e-books, it's that t…
I remember seeing a Charles Stross book selling for around $50 signed. I saw a signed Nights Dawn Trilogy for what would have been $400... all used books.
I wanted to ask what the signed (second edition IIRC) copy of The Colour of Magic was going for, but I didn't dare as it was locked up behind the counter and I knew I'd want it!
The problem is that bookstores charge too much money. Borders will sell my book for $49 when it comes out, whereas you can preorder it from Amazon for around $22 which is about what it costs to buy the ebook copy right from the publisher. Then my book won't sell because it's too expensive, so we'll have to buy it back from Borders and I'll get charged against my royalties for a "return". It's not e-books, it's that t…
What exactly do you expect them to do? Do you have any idea of the overhead of running a bookstore? It's easy to say that Borders should match Amazon's price, but if you take one look at an Amazon fulfillment center, you'll see a gap that simply can't be closed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Admission fees? Retail stores are increasingly losing to online services, so the brick-and-mortars might have to focus on the experience of being in a bookstore. For more on this idea, The Experience Economy is a good read. (Skip everything but the first 2-3 chapters. After that, it gets redundant and a little weird at the end.) http://www.amazon.com/Experience-Economy-Theater-Every-Busin...
I think setting up cafes in book stores is the model a lot of them use.
I was just telling my wife this morning that the book business has changed radically -- there's been a seismic shift in the last year. I don't see how the brick-and-mortar guys are going to do it. Even if you charged more and offered a high-touch experience, folks will just come in, browse the books, then scan them on their iPhone and buy them on the net. Ebooks throws an even bigger monkey wrench into the works. Maj…
The chains that campaigned against net price agreements and talked about business and not being sentimental are no complaining about ebooks, Amazon and supermarkets - well tough
Recently Amazon has basically dominated this market and has eaten the B&M stores lunches, as far as I am concerned. The best thing Amazon ever did was launch the ratings and reviews and get tons of people to add valuable content to their site and augment the one huge disadvantage they had over B&M; you can't tell if the book was any good. I find the ratings and reviews are as valuable, if not more, than me briefly looking through the book myself.
Now, I don't think ebooks have much to do with this at all as I don't see ebooks selling nearly as well as people think they will sell. I personally hate reading in that format and will continue to buy books to read as I find the experience much more enjoyable and maintainable. Thinks like Safari online are just AWFUL ways to consume material, IMO. The only reason I have ebooks is if I travel and want to have something to read on my iPad instead of carrying 4-6 books with me.
Oh yeah, and don't get me started on the price of most technical ebooks!
All in all...B&M stores like Borders are dying b/c they couldn't or wouldn't adapt in the face of someone like Amazon who is better at the modern game than they are. This is very much like Netflix v Blockbuster...
They need to make a pivot into selling an experience, which is obviously harder to monetize than sold goods. But it's certainly possible (see: Starbucks) and it's something a lot of people are willing to pay for.
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1-off printing costs MUCH more than batch runs of printing.
The problem is that bookstores charge too much money. Borders will sell my book for $49 when it comes out, whereas you can preorder it from Amazon for around $22 which is about what it costs to buy the ebook copy right from the publisher. Then my book won't sell because it's too expensive, so we'll have to buy it back from Borders and I'll get charged against my royalties for a "return". It's not e-books, it's that t…
> The problem is that bookstores charge too much money. What exactly do you expect them to do? Do you have any idea of the overhead of running a bookstore? It's easy to say that Borders should match Amazon's price, but if you take one look at an Amazon fulfillment center, you'll see a gap that simply can't be closed.
I suppose he expects them to go out of business. The cost of operating a bookstore is irrelevant to the buyer - if the overhead is such that they can't either compete on price or otherwise differentiate their product or experience to justify the cost difference, then abandoning the business model seems like the only choice.